No. In the case of peaches no. Not as much.
Most genetic dwarfs are still sold on Lovell (standard). We have 6 of them. They exhibit dwarfism as the cultivar is naturally dwarfing (short internodes). Height tops out at around 6 ft ish (give or take a foot). A non-dwarf on a dwarf peach will just exhibit poor vigor as it struggles to attain standard size. As for suckers, peaches in general are difficult to root.
Thanks. The two suckers I took had some small roots on them. If they survive maybe Ill use them for grafting regardless.
Like just peachy said most genetic dwarfs are grafted on Lovell because what I found out when reading was genetic dwarf peaches just grow a few inches a year. If you read my thread and many other thread most people said just prune your peaches anyway and they will stay at the size you want. Ended up just getting some donut peaches in the end.
I just happened upon your response from April '21 and wonder if that PLC regimen is still what you use.
After years of having limited success with a monthly alternations of Kocide and LS, I tried Ziram at green tip (a little late but this is when I got the Ziram) this year and poof!!! - no PLC. Does your recommendation of Kocide + sticker (Dec), LS (Jan) and ziram + sticker (Feb) still hold …or have you switched to solely Ziram in Feb?
yeah I’m not an expert on this, I’m still trying to experiment and do the IPM thing and reduce sprays to only what’s needed. this year I did copper+sticker Feb 1 and then I got really good timing on lime sulfur sometime late February and stopped with that, no ziram, and ended up with maybe 10% curl on the highly susceptible stuff (like spice zee nectarine) and 5% or less on resistant stuff. I think next year I’ll try ziram-only. I suspect that keeping it knocked down year-to-year will make things easier so maybe ziram is only needed every other year? ziram being the big gun that should give you great control one year so you can do less the next year. just a guess
Thanks for reply! Peaches are the only fruit crop that has me stepping over to the dark side (Ziram). I was amazed that after 30 years of unsuccessfully battling PLC with copper and LS, I got none this year with Ziram. But that was following Nov-Jan alternations of copper and LS, so I really don’t know what did what.
Ziram spec sheet states “1 spray after leaf drop and/or prior to bud swell”. I guess I’ll try the “and” this year, the “or” next year, and then maybe skip a year. I’ll share results.
By chance, is anyone here aware of whether the tight internode “dwarf” trait is based on dominant or recessive gene(s?)? If it’s dominant it would be practical to make crosses with leaf curl resistant peaches to get more resistance into the dwarf peach gene pool.
Garden delight nectarine. It took a few years to get good tasting fruit off this tree, but this year these are quite small, but nice. Very freestone which is great.
Is the brachytic dwarfism trait what is in use here? I had read that it was considered to be a negative genetic trait in peaches. Apparently there’s another genetic trait referred to as “compact” based on a different genetic mutation than the brachytic dwarfism trait. Do we know which of these two traits is being employed for the commercially available “dwarf” peach trees?
The genotype of the brachytic dwarfism is designated as (dwdw). This description of various peaches lists the dwarf peaches as dwdw, so these do appear to be dwarf due to the recessive brachytic dwarf allele. From what I have read, the compact trees don’t have the really short internodes.
http://www.chathamapples.com/SE/Peaches.html
Just potted up this El Dorado, whose life will be confined to a container in hopes of some reliable peach production here in Colorado.
Can anyone here who grows peaches in containers suggest how it should be pruned and trained, and if I should do any of that now, or let it grow out the first year and just do some branch spreading?
I think open vase isn’t as good of an option, given it will over winter in the garage, where I’ll want to pack in a number of trees.
I am in zone 5b CO too. I have grown peaches in pots and none required pruning. At least in the case of my Stark Saturn peach in a 40 gallon pot they have not even grown much bigger over the years.
Ok, great (and thanks). Simpler is even better, though maybe I want to consider some limb spreading on this one.
Curious - without pruning they produce peaches reliably? Or maybe you’re just referring to early in it’s life.
The first year it did not try to produce then next year the buds got frozen off. Last year in my area it really warmed up in March which made the trees blossom and then we had a freeze after Memorial Day that killed existing blossoms and my bigger trees lost branches
Ah yes, the joys of Colorado weather. That’s exactly why I’m trying one in a container - bring it in for bad weather. Just that I don’t have dollies made yet for the containers!
This little guy is loaded with flowers that are about to bloom, but don’t think I will let it produce if it does fruit, as I want it to focus on growing this year. However, I’m hopeful this container strategy will give me at least one plant producing annually with peaches (and pears and cherries).
Genetic dwarf peaches stay extremely small to be honest. I hear most cap out 4-5 feet with pixie capping out at around 6 feet. I got a good portion of the genetic dwarf peaches and nectarines this year. I am more concerned about them not making it due to our gardening zone than not ever producing to be honest. I am zone 5b too but most of these genetic dwarfs are zone 6 and up. I had a -15,-10 and -8 3 days in a row this year in December and my spice zee nectaplum came out partly already so maybe I am overreacting a little bit.
I have a Pix-Zee that’s going on year 5 in a pot and a few other potted genetic dwarfs as well. No major pruning necessary for me so far. As elivings1 stated, they’ve stayed pretty small. Either due to the pot, or our climate conditions, you’ll probably need quite a long bit of time before they look anything like the 4-6 ft trees you see on the DWN videos.
One additional thing to consider, relative to pruning, is storage. I have a small city garage and honestly my pruning focus has been primarily to keep the shape manageable for storage and moving in and out of the garage.
As for production, I’ve had my Pix-Zee reliably produce the last few years getting the bad-weather garage treatment. The best tasting peach is the one that doesn’t get zapped by the weather!
I was expecting something like that. However, given natural dwarf what I wasn’t sure on is if there was any practical benefit to putting it in a 30 gallon container (versus a 15 or 20). Those things are HEAVY! Maybe on a genetic dwarf I should have stayed smaller.
OK, that’s more good context. I am surprised the peaches don’t require 2nd year wood for production. I’ll just let it grow out this season before digging in more next winter to understand if any basic shaping should be done. It has like 5 leaders on it, and not sure if those should be reduced at the start (versus ongoing pruning). Thanks for preparing me for the slow growth. How many seasons in would you allow them to fruit? In my head, this season would not be a good idea, due to just getting established
I’m fortunate to be able to accommodate a lot of plants in my garage… just not this season, as it’s packed with construction materials for the house. Just need to weld up a dolly for each of the plants so they can get moved easily.
Ok, that’s what I was hoping for. Yes, agreed!
Your pictures were awesome and inspired me to get an El Dorado this season!
Do you (or anyone) think there is any need to install a central stake to support the tree at initial planting, so branches can be tied off to it in the future, to prevent the breakage you described?
